Go Fish
by PurpleHipposRock
Summary: When Kensi and Deeks end up in hospital, they reflect on how they got to where they ended up.


**Go Fish**

**I don't own anything to do with NCISLA. I wish I did, but I'm absolutely dead broke…**

Kensi exhaled woozily, her senses returning to her body reluctantly, almost guiltily, like dogs with their tails between their legs as the pins and needles began to prick at her flesh like a million ant bites, injecting their irritating poison into her soft tissue.

For some reason, her big toe was the worst. Her feet were cold. And this was strange, because now that she thought about it; didn't she get wounded in the gut?

She tried to move her fingers. They were next worst, besides the ice-cubes attached to the ends of her feet that were pretending to be toes. Something was on her right index finger, and a rhythmic beeping kept time with the throbbing in her head.

Ah. She was in hospital. Of course.

But for some reason, this whole awakening was a whole new experience. She wondered idly what drugs they had her on this time. Morphine had never felt like this. Maybe it was a new formula.

There was another sound besides the beeping. If only her eyelids would cooperate, she might be able to figure out what the noise is.

It kind of sounds like air moving. Or breathing heavily. Hang on! Was that...? Yes, that was a page turning. Was she in the bullpen? Pages turning were a familiar sound in the bullpen, especially after an op and they were all tired and just wanted to finish the paperwork and get something strong and numbing to drink. That would explain why she felt like crap. She'd been shot in the gut. She needed medical attention! What the hell were Deeks, Callen and Sam doing? Letting her bleed out on the floor of the the Mission like some common criminal?

But then, there was the beep again. And again. And again. She was in hospital. She was alive. She was safe. Or, at least, her heart was beating. Why couldn't she just open her eyes? She wanted to see where she was and who it was that was reading.

Another sound. A dry, sickly cough. She was familiar with that cough. It was the cough that had nagged Callen for weeks after he'd been shot several times in the chest, almost shredding his lungs.

Oh, God. Deeks. She'd been trying to get him to the ambulance when they'd shot her. They'd got him in the chest. She remembered.

...

'_Come on, Deeks, stay with me,' Kensi pleaded, pressing her hands so hard into his chest that it hurt the both of them._

'_Always, Fern,' Deeks managed before groaning and bracing himself against the concrete to ride out the wave of pain._

'_Just stay awake. You'll be fine,' Kensi reasoned, all the while watching as his blood seeped through her fingers. 'C'mon Deeks.'_

_She took the pristine white bandage that the silent Callen had pushed into her hand and watched as its purity was marred by Deeks' life, slowly oozing out of him as reluctantly as he himself would._

_Deeks' face morphed, whether into a grin or a grimace she couldn't tell. 'So, Fern, now a good time to tell me you love me?'_

_Definitely a grin._

'_No, I think it can wait until you're not oozing blood. The red, wet look doesn't suit you.'_

_Deeks tried to laugh, but Kensi shut him down. 'Everything suits me, Kens. You ought to know that by now.'_

'_Shut up, Deeks,' Kensi said._

'_Oh, come on, Kensi, by now you should really call me Marty.'_

'_Leave the charm for the nurses, _Deeks_,' Kensi replied._

'_Oh, that's right, I've already got you completely under my spell.' He braced himself again, but this time he coughed, bringing up red, frothy blood._

'_Okay, you're fine. You're gonna be okay. Keep looking at me, Deeks.'_

'_Better not,' Deeks mumbled as Callen silently reached out and wiped blood from his jaw. 'I might think that angels are comin'.'_

'_Oh, trust me Deeks, if you die on me, the next place you see me is Hell.'_

'_Hmmm... If the demons look like you, I'll happily burn for eternity.' Deeks was beginning to sound drunk. 'You're beautiful, you know that, Kens? I mean, all those guys tell you you're hot, but I don't think anyone's really ever told you how _beautiful_ you are. There's a difference, you know.'_

_Deeks was really and truly babbling now. _

'_You tell me what the difference is then, Deeks.' Anything to keep him conscious, though the blood-loss was making him sound a little bit drunk._

'_You see girls in the club. They look good, but inside all they can think of is themselves and having a good time. You're beautiful because you're not only the most stunning-looking woman I'll ever see, but you're good on the inside. You don't try to be perfect. You're human. You're you.' Deeks blinked sleepily._

'_Don't go to sleep on me now. Keep those eyes open.' Kensi tried to smile reassuringly. _

_Suddenly, Deeks' eyes were wide open. 'Kensi!'_

_And the next thing Kensi knew, there was a piercing pain in her back._

...

'Hey, Mr Deeks. How are you feeling?' The voice was female and friendly. If Kensi didn't know any better, almost _too_ friendly.

Deeks coughed again. 'I'll feel a heap better when my partner wakes up. How's _she_ doing?'

Deeks was shot in the lung and was awake and talking before her? Well, she'd always known that he was full of surprises. And he was a lot stronger than any of them gave him credit for.

'She's doing fine. She'll probably wake up in a little while, we're lessening the amount of drugs we're giving her as we speak.' The nurse was doing something to something that made beeping noises near Kensi's head. 'A high velocity gunshot wound to the large intestine isn't a fun experience.'

_I am awake_, Kensi wanted to scream.

'Nor is being shot in the chest, and I'm awake.'

'You were operated on before her. It's only natural. Your anaesthetic wore off first.'

Deeks coughed again. 'Ah, I bet she's just staying unconscious to piss me off. My partner's unpredictable like that. She likes being unpredictable. She's constantly telling me to be unpredictable. Says that being predictable is a good way to get shot. Funny. I was being unpredictable when the both of us got shot.'

_Is that what you call it?_ Kensi wondered, momentarily ignoring her predicament.

'So being predictable gets me shot, and being unpredictable gets me shot... what do you suggest?' Deeks asked conversationally.

'I suggest that you lay down like the good patient that you are, Mr Deeks, and save your breath for when your partner wakes up. I'm sure she'll want to hear all about your unpredictability.'

'She might not, though. She might think that in doing so, I'm being predictable. She's like that, you know.'

'She sounds like an interesting person.'

'Well, she's not what you'd call normal,' Deeks said.

_I want to be normal_, Kensi protested, pleading with her body to just do what she wanted it to.

She became aware of another beep, also rhythmic but slightly out of time with hers. It was his. He turned another page in his book.

'Tell me if you need anything, Mr Deeks, I'll be right outside,' the nurse said calmly.

'Could you get some Jello for my partner? She really likes it,' Deeks said, and Kensi _knew_ that he was smirking. She wanted to slap the smirk off of his face, but her limbs would not, or could not, comply with her orders.

'Sure.' There were footsteps as the nurse left the room.

Kensi was confused. Deeks hadn't flirted with the nurse. Strange...

Deeks turned another page in the book, and then put the book down. 'Kensi, I know you like annoying me and being unpredictable, but this is going too far. Come on, wake up already! You were the one that made me stay awake. Or, at least, until they got you too.'

...

_Deeks opened his eyes and blinked._

'_Jesus?' he asked, slurring his words slightly._

_Sam chuckled. 'Not yet, Deeks.'_

'_Oh. Oh, hi God. How's Heaven? Is the surf good? I wanna go surfing.'_

_Callen snorted._

_Deeks turned his head. 'No? Not God? Oh, no. Hey, Satan. Well, there go my surfing plans. No water in Hell. Oh, well. I'll just look forwards to meeting with Kensi. She promised she'd meet me in Hell.'_

_Sam laughed. 'Should I tell him, or will you, G?'_

_Deeks opened his eyes fully. 'I'm alive?'_

'_Very,' Callen said._

'_Oh. Oh... Well, I s'pose alive is better than dead.'_

'_Yup.'_

_Suddenly, Deeks was extremely awake and sitting bolt upright. 'Where's Kensi?'_

_Callen and Sam pushed him back down._

'_Where's Kensi?' Deeks asked again._

'_She's being operated on.'_

'_What happened?'_

'_Shot in the back, the bullet lodged in her large intestine.'_

'_Oh, God,' Deeks murmured, his eyelids fluttering._

'_Go back to sleep, Deeks,' Callen said. 'We'll wake you up when we know more.'_

_Deeks nodded sleepily. 'Okay.'_

...

Kensi tried to move any part of her body, but any part that twitched was flooded with a feeling that felt like liquid ice. Finally, she found a body part that didn't hurt to move. Her eyelids.

The lights seemed to burn at her retinas. She could feel her pupils squeezing themselves shut and she blinked to try and focus on something.

Finally, they did. A fluorescent tube above her head.

Though it hurt, she mumbled, 'Deeks?'

Deeks sat upright and cried out in pain.

Kensi moved her head a fraction to the right and saw him sitting up in his bed. 'Lay _down_,' she ordered.

'You're awake?' Deeks asked.

'I've been awake for awhile, but my body hasn't been cooperating. What sort of painkillers have they been giving me?' she asked. 'Cos A) they suck, and B), they're giving me pins and needles all over.'

'Oh, that's how I felt when I woke up. You okay?'

'It hurts to move,' she admitted through gritted teeth.

'It kills you to admit that,' Deeks said, grinning.

'Not so much as the pain,' she groaned. 'Ah!'

Her cry brought Callen, Sam, Hetty and the nurse running.

'Kensi!' Callen exclaimed, standing by her beside. 'You're awake.'

'I wish I wasn't,' Kensi grumbled.

'It hurts?' Sam asked.

'It hurts too much to reach for the morphine button,' Kensi moaned.

Hetty smiled sympathetically. 'You'll be okay, dear.'

'Do you need pain relief, Agent Blye?' the nurse asked gently.

Kensi thought for a moment. 'Yeah, that'd be nice. I s'pose talking can wait until later?'

'We'll be here to fill you in, Kens,' Sam said reassuringly.

'Okay,' Kensi nodded as the morphine began to move down the tube.

'Trust me, Fern, I ain't gonna shut up,' Deeks said, grinning.

'Later, Deeks,' Kensi said sleepily, the drug slowly filtering into her system.

'Night, Fern. My Jello is yours when you wake up.'

'Night Deeks. I'll take you up on that later.'

...

_Kensi opened her eyes and blinked sleepily. Something was floating before her eyes. It was fuzzy. It was large._

_She raised a heavy hand and swatted at it._

'_Not cool, Fern,' Deeks admonished. 'That's a large cup of hot coffee, and we don't want you burning yourself.'_

_Kensi was immediately awake, or as awake as one could be without caffeine. 'Coffee? Did you say coffee?'_

'_I did indeed. To be exact, some coffee for you.' He placed a Styrofoam cup on the desk in front of her._

'_I could kiss you,' Kensi said flippantly._

'_I'll take you up on that later, Kens,' Deeks said, smirking. 'Is that on the mouth or...'_

'_You wanna leave that sentence unfinished, _Decaf_,' Sam said._

_Deeks noticed the look that Kensi was using to burn holes in his flesh and wisely took his advice and shut his mouth with a click._

_Kensi took a long drink and noticed that Deeks had got her coffee absolutely perfect, down to the temperature. He'd been doing that for awhile now._

'_What time is it?' Kensi asked, stretching._

_All three men were suddenly very busy looking elsewhere in the room._

'_Uh, eight,' Deeks said, grateful for the opportunity to look at his watch. If he didn't look in another direction, he'd end up staring at her, and staring at his partner, though tempting, wasn't a wise idea if you hoped to keep your face in its current alignment._

_Kensi blinked sleepily and let out a yawn, 'I stayed here all night.'_

'_No kidding, Sleeping Beauty,' Deeks said._

_She glared at him. 'I didn't mean to.'_

_Deeks chuckled. 'Ah, it happens, Fern. I see you got your paperwork done, though.'_

'_Not for long,' Nell said, walking into the bullpen holding a pile of papers. 'But the majority of these are yours, Deeks.'_

_Deeks groaned. 'Really? What'd I do this time?'_

'_The LAPD called,' Hetty said, appearing in that way that only she could. 'They couldn't find your desk for all the paperwork it's been buried under. It seems that you've been neglecting your LAPD duties.'_

'_My LAPD duties are to liaise, and that's what I'm doing,' Deeks said, leafing through a ten-page form._

'_Is that what you call it?' Sam muttered while Callen smirked._

'_It seems that you've still got to fill in paperwork,' Hetty said._

'_Oh, come on, Hetty, can't you do something about this?' Deeks pleaded._

'_I couldn't if I wanted to,' Hetty said resignedly. _

'_You mean you don't want to?' Deeks asked, pouting._

'_Well, when you accepted this position with us, I assumed that you knew what responsibilities would be expected of you.'_

'_And that includes _more_ paperwork?' Deeks asked in dismay._

'_Yes,' Hetty said._

_Deeks groaned and put his head down on his desk. 'Princess?' he said, his voice muffled in the wood._

_Kensi ignored him, but he kept talking._

'_I think I'll take that kiss now.'_

...

Kensi blinked her eyes. She felt groggy, and the pain relief had, yet again, worn off.

'Deeks?' she mumbled wearily, turning her head to where his bed was positioned. And caught an eyeful of a half-naked Deeks trying to sneak out of bed. 'Hey!'

Deeks froze in position, his eyes finding hers and his expression reminding her of a small boy who's been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. 'You're awake,' he said, trying to distract her. 'Oh, good.'

'What are you doing?' Kensi asked, anxiety and anger making her heart beat faster and the beeping machine beep more briskly.

'I'm hungry,' Deeks whined.

'Then get someone to bring you something.'

'It's not a 'hospital food' hunger, Kens.'

'Then get Callen or Sam to buy you something - just get back into bed, will you?'

He smirked, and she realised what she'd said too late.

'Gee, Fern, I dunno, maybe we should get dinner or something first before taking that step in our relationship,' Deeks teased. 'I mean, seriously, I'm barely dressed. How do I know that you won't take advantage of me?'

Her eyes narrowed, and that was all it took to get him to shut up and get back into bed.

He was silent for about two minutes before breaking his silence. But for once, he wasn't doing it on purpose. Or perhaps, knowing Deeks, he was.

His stomach let out a loud, empty, _hungry_ grumble.

'My God, get someone to get you something to eat!' Kensi exclaimed.

'Are you hungry?' came the musical voice of the duty nurse as she entered the shared room.

'Just a little bit,' Deeks said as his stomach grumbled again.

'When was the last time you ate?' Kensi asked in astonishment.

'It was the last time you ate,' Deeks replied.

'I ate a Twinkie just before the take-down, and you didn't,' Kensi corrected him.

'Oh, yeah. Sam turned the wrapper into a swan.'

'It was a crane.' Sam and Callen walked in, both holding a bag in each hand.

'Here you are,' the nurse said, placing a tray on Kensi's table.

'Thanks,' Kensi said, eyeing the contents glumly. The yellow, scrambled stuff smelled like eggs when she cared to try and identify them. The toast was more like lightly baked bread and the orange juice was the most appetising thing on the tray. That and the red Jello.

'Heads up, Kens,' Deeks called, observing his own tray, and his own container of green Jello sailed through the air. 'As promised.'

'Thanks,' Kensi said, snatching it out of the air and placing it on the tray next to hers. 'You want anything?'

'Can I have your toast?' Deeks asked.

'Sure,' Kensi replied, giving it to Callen to pass to Deeks. 'Though I'm pretty sure it'd be better described as bread rather than toast.'

'I'd rather eat anything compared to these eggs. They're already decomposing.' Deeks wrinkled his nose at the prospect.

'I'll eat it if you eat it,' Kensi proposed.

Deeks shrugged. 'I guess, if you're going through the same hell as I am.'

The nurse smiled. 'As long as you're eating. And no coffee,' she warned before leaving the room.

'Coffee? Please?' Deeks asked the moment she was out of earshot.

Callen chuckled. 'I know from experience that it doesn't help, Deeks.'

Deeks grumbled something under his breath and poked at his eggs. He then jumped.

Kensi, Sam and Callen almost jumped out of their skin.

'What?' Kensi asked.

Deeks' expression was one of extreme and authentic fear. He poked the eggs again, and then relaxed. 'I thought that it moved.'

'Deeks!' Kensi whined. 'Seriously?'

He grinned at her. 'Seriously, I think they're still alive.'

'In that case...' Kensi pushed them to the side and opened the container of red Jello.

'Good idea.' Deeks picked up a piece of toast and stuck it in his mouth. 'Ugh. Over-processed white bread.'

'It's still better than the half-chirping eggs,' Kensi replied, scooping a mouthful of the pudding into her mouth.

'You two are not going to get better if you keep eating the way you've always been eating,' Sam scolded.

'Well, it worked last time I got shot, why shouldn't it this time?' Deeks asked reasonably, finishing one piece of toast and taking a bite out of another.

'Any food other than this would be nice, if you guys cared to buy any for us,' Kensi said.

'Not so subtle hint, hint, hint,' Deeks added.

'They got a point, Sam,' Callen said. 'Hospital food sucks.'

'I'd give anything for a Ding Dong,' Kensi muttered.

...

'_Please?' Deeks asked, watching as she bit off another bite of the peanut-butter cup._

_She glared at him. 'No.'_

'_I know you've got more somewhere,' Deeks said, folding his arms and pouting._

'_Just give him the damn candy already, Kens,' came into both their ears._

'_See? Even Callen wants you to give one to me.'_

'_No, Callen just wants you to shut up,' Callen said, the words coming from the car further down the street._

'_Well, I'm not until she gives me one,' Deeks said, and proved his point by beginning to hum under his breath._

_Kensi glared at him. 'Don't quit your day-job, bud.'_

'_Why would I want to?' Deeks replied. 'I've got you.'_

_Kensi ground her teeth. 'That just gives _me_ a reason to quit,' she replied._

_Deeks frowned. 'But if you left, then I would have a reason to quit.'_

'_And if you quit, I'd come right back,' Kensi said._

'_And I'd follow,' Deeks said happily._

_Sam groaned. 'Give him the damn candy, already! You know how irritating it is to have you lot squabble in my ears when I'm tryin' to get a job done?'_

'_From experience, I know it's hard,' Callen said._

'_We don't squabble,' Deeks said._

'_We _debate-_' Kensi said._

'_We bicker-'_

'_We quarrel-'_

'_But we don't squabble!' Deeks finished._

'_Oh my God, that is so cute,' Sam said._

'_Not really, they just gave me a headache,' Callen replied._

'_What was cute?' Deeks asked._

'_The way you two finished each other's sentences,' Sam said._

'_What?'_

'_What?'_

_This was said by both partners in unison._

'_And you said that it could never work, Sam,' Callen said._

'_I never said that it _couldn't_ work. I said that it _wouldn't _work. There's a difference, G.'_

'_Either way, guys, he's wrong,' Deeks said. 'It does work.'_

'_Kinda,' Kensi replied._

'_Mostly,' Deeks returned._

'_Can we all just shut up now?' Sam asked. 'They're comin'.'_

_And so they were._

...

'Kensi? Kensi?' The words were echoing in her head, and it made her head hurt.

'Kensi?'

She jolted out of the reverie that she had been in and looked around. 'Yeah?'

'You kinda zoned out on me for a moment there,' Deeks said, looking a little worried.

'Oh, sorry, I was just thinking.'

'About what?' Deeks frowned for a moment and took a card from the pile that they'd persuaded Callen to buy for them.

'Stuff. The mission. You got a queen?'

'Go fish. What about the mission?'

Kensi picked up a card and shook her head at it. 'Just... how'd we end up in hospital?'

'Do you want the simple answer or the hideously complicated one?'

She smiled. 'Just out of pure boredom and curiosity, give me the hideously complicated one.'

He chuckled. 'Well, firstly, you got a nine?'

She sighed and handed it over.

'Thank you. Evil.'

Kensi waited for a moment, but he didn't continue. 'Are you gonna clarify that, counsellor?'

Deeks chuckled. 'Evil got us in these hospital beds.' He sipped from a cup of water. 'Evil was the thing that created guns and therefore bullets. Evil was the thing that turned reasonable men into murderers and dealers and pimps. T'was the snake that tempted Eve with the apple - snake was Evil personified.'

'Don't you mean snake-ified?' Kensi asked.

'The snake talked. Personified.'

Kensi smiled. 'Whatever you say.'

'It was greed and gluttony that got us into these beds, Kens. Nothing more. King?'

'I didn't suggest that there was. Go fish.'

'Your eyes did. What's on your mind?'

'I know it's stupid-'

'No matter what you say, you're never stupid,' Deeks interrupted her.

'But I can't help but feel that this whole thing was my fault.'

Deeks' eyes widened. '_Your_ fault? How is any of this _your_ fault?'

'You're my partner, I should've had your back,' Kensi said immediately.

'And you got shot too. Do you see me blaming myself for your being in that bed?' Deeks asked defensively.

'You tried to warn me. It's not your fault. If I'd been looking out for you, you never would've gotten shot, _I'd_ have been paying attention to my surroundings instead of worrying about you, _you_ wouldn't have had to try and warn me-'

'Whoa!' Deeks yelled, scattering all of their cards to the ground and bedding with a wild wave of his arm. '_What_?'

'It's _my_ fault, not Evil. Or maybe I _am_ evil, considering what happens to my partners.'

'Kens...' He pressed his hand over hers. 'None of it's your fault. _None_. And you are as far from evil as anyone possibly could be.'

Kensi deflated into a miserable heap, retrieving her hand from his grasp. 'Then how do you explain it?'

'Evil.'

'That's gonna be your answer? Evil?'

'Well, I know that none of this is _your_ fault, and I know that this isn't _mine_. So unless you wanna blame it on Sam and Callen-'

They both paused for a moment, thinking over this and eventually smiling at each other, knowing that they'd not be able to look their teammates in the face for a week without cracking up.

'It's _no-one's_ fault. If you _must_ blame it on something, and knowing you, you will, blame it on Evil.'

'And when I can't kick Evil because it's basically a personality trait?'

'I'll take you down to the lock-up at LAPD and you can take your pick,' Deeks proposed.

She smiled. 'In the meantime, I'll settle for kicking _your_ ass.'

'Oh, God.'

She gathered up a handful of cards from the bed. 'Got a two?'

He smiled and waved to the floor, where the majority of the cards now resided. 'Go fish.'

**So… What did you think? Did it make you laugh? Did it make you cry? If it made you give any reaction whatsoever, please review and let me know…**

**XD PurpleHipposRock**


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